Method for producing ornamental articles

ABSTRACT

Ornamental objects such as jewelry are produced, each of which is unique and different from all the others, by compressing a mass of old jewelry and silverware and the like into a block, and then slicing the block into plaques. Either before or after slicing the block, the compressed material may be treated with borax and then heated to 400*-600* C. to impart various colors to the various metals. The compression is in the range 2 to 18 metric tons per square centimeter.

United States Patent Morabito Dec. 18, 1973 [5 METHOD FOR PRODUCING ORNAMENTAL 3,184,840 5/1965 Byme et al. 29/l60.6 X

ARTICLES FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS [76] Inventor! Pascal Mof'abimt 13, Avenue 3956 10 1913 Great Britain 29/l60.6 Jean Medec a, Ni an 289.660 5/1928 Great Britain... 29/l60.6 [22] Filed: June 1972 548,851 3/1932 Germany 29/l60 6 [21] Appl' 263,613 Primary Examiner-Charles W. Lanham Assistant Examiner-V. A. DiPalma 30 Foreign Application Priority Data Arwrneylrvin Thompson et .luly 8, 1971 France 7125801 [57] ABSTRACT [52] US. Cl .I 29/l60.6, 29/412, 29/470.l,

29/DIG 30 Ornamental oh ects such as ewelry are produced, [51 1 Int CL B2" 43/00 823p 5/00 each of wh1ch 1s umque and dIfferent from all the othi Field of 29/1606 412 470 l ers, by compressing a mass of old jewelry and silver- 5 ware and the like into a block, and then slicing the block into plaques. Either before or after slicing the block the compressed material may be treated with 5 1 6] g grxf g g E S borax and then heated to 400600 C. to impart vari S AT NT ous colors to the various metals. The compression is in g l Fy Q the range 2 to 18 metric tons per square centimeter. ar mg 3,175,893 3/1965 Meretsky 29/470.l X 5 Claims, No Drawings METHOD FOR PRODUCING ORNAMENTAL ARTICLES The present invention relates to the production of ornamental articles such as plaques for use in jewelry such as brooches, pendants, necklaces, rin'gsand the like, in the form of massive solids of any desired size and shape, whose appearance will be randomly arrived at and which will be different from each other piece thus produced. A

The present invention comprises the assembly of a plurality of metal articles which may be noble metals such as gold, or silverware such as table silver, or old jewelry such as necklaces, bracelets and the like, whose sizes and shapes and metal compositions are different from each other. These are mixed together at random and are subjected to a sufficient compressive pressure to form a monolithic block in which the articles occupy random positions, the block having cavities therein of various sizes and shapes.

If a compaction pressure of, for example, 2 to metric tons per square centimeter is used, the blocks thus obtained will have crevices in their surfaces of a completely random design which will be disposed between planar areas of different shapes and colors due to the differences in the sizes and shapes and metals of the articles from which the block was formed.

Compression can be effected in any known compressive mold, which accordingly need not be shown. The compressed block may have a cylindrical or parallelepipedal or other conventional shape.

The compacted block is then sliced as by sawing into a plurality of flat plaques each of which is different from all the others as to coloration and design, due to the random structure of the block from which the plaques were cut.

In order to augment the coloration of the blocks or plaques, the surface of the block or plaque may be brush-coated with borax and then the blockor plaque heated to 400 to 600 C. Different metals will thus take on different colorations due to the heat treatment with borax, it being possible thus to produce blue, purple, green, red, brown and yellow tones.

This borax treatment can for example be effected after compression in the range 2 to 10 metric tons per square centimeter. Thereafter, a higher compression, in the range 10 to 18 metric tons per square centimeter,

will produce a denser block which can then be cut into plaques. The heat treatment to augment the coloration may be performed after the relatively low pressure compression or after the relatively high pressure compression, before or after the block is cut into plaques.

At least one flat face of each plaque is then polished by any known metal polishing technique. Of course, if the mold walls themselves are polished, then it may not be necessary to polish the plaques.

The resulting plaques may be used as ornamental objects as produced, or may be worked into pendants, brooches, rings, etc. as jewelry.

The fact that no two plaques will be alike will permit the purchaser to select the plaque that is most pleasing, according to the taste of the purchaser.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that modifications and variations may be resorted towithout departing from the spirit of the invention, as those skilled in this art will readily understand. Such modifications and variations are considered to be within the purview and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A method for producing ornamental articles, comprising assembling a plurality of finished ornamental articles such as jewelry and silverware of different metals, compacting the assembly of articles into a monolithic block under pressure, and then slicing the block into ornamental articles comprising plaques.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, in which the compression pressure is in the range 10 to 18 metric tons per square centimeter.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, and coating the metal of the articles with borax and then heating the coated metal to a temperature in the range 400 to 600 C. to alter the coloration of the different metals.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3, in which the block is compressed at a pressure of 2 to 10 metric tons per square centimeter prior to the borax heat treatment and then is compressed to a pressure of 10 to 18 metric tons per square centimeter subsequent to said borax treatment.

5. A method as claimed in claim 1, and polishing at least one face of each resulting plaque after cutting. 

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, in which the compression pressure is in the range 10 to 18 metric tons per square centimeter.
 3. A method as claimed in claim 1, and coating the metal of the articles with borax and then heating the coated metal to a temperature in the range 400* to 600* C. to alter the coloration of the different metals.
 4. A method as claimed in claim 3, in which the block is compressed at a pressure of 2 to 10 metric tons per square centimeter prior to the borax heat treatment and then is compressed to a pressure of 10 to 18 metric tons per square centimeter subsequent to said borax treatment.
 5. A method as claimed in claim 1, and polishing at least one face of each resulting plaque after cutting. 